New Ulm weekly review. [volume] (New Ulm, Minn.) 1878-1892, 1887-05-11
latter insisted on surrounding the
queen with ladies OF tory families.
Victoria refused To change her attand-

latter insisted on surrounding the
queen with ladies Of tory families.
Victoria refused to change her attend
ants, and under the circumstances
Sir Robert refused to take office The
girl of nineteen had not learned the
necessity of subordinating her feelings
to the duties of the station she occu-
pied. Lord Melbourne resumed the
post of prime minister.
1t has been said that the duchess of
Saxe-Coburg and the king OF the Bel
CLANS had predestined Prince Albert
Tor the queen. A year before the
accession, when they were both
seventeen, the young couple met for
the first time, and, having many tastes
in common, liked each other. Subse-
quent meetings confirmed the mutual
regard. After Victoria became queen,
Albert came to England. The old
king of the Belgians had sounded her.
and found her willing; he had commu-
nicated his discovery to Albert, who
was ardent. But the young lady was
clear-headed and practical. I'VE are
both tooyou to think ofmarrying, :"
she wrote. "Albert is imperfectly &C.
quainted with English, and is only
just out of college. Let us wait three
or four years." And meanwhile she
declined to correspond with him. Al
bert was as calculating as she. "If,"
he wrote, CATER waiting three years, I
should find that the queen no longer
desired the marriage. it would ruin all
the prospects OF my future life. If |
am to wait, | must have some certain
assurances to 60 upon" Nearly thir-
ty years later, in her life of Prince Al
bert, the queen says: 1.-The queen
cannot think without indignation
against herself of her wish to keep the
prince waiting three or four years
Two years after the accession Prince
Albert came to England with the in
tention OF telling her that if she could
not then make up her mind he could
no longer wait for a decision" What
this little German petty Prince would
have done if the queen had declined to
make up her mind does not appear.
But great pressure was brought to
bear upon her majesty. If she had
died childless the duke of Cumberland,
wretch stained with every crime and
monstrously unpopular, would have
succeeded. We may be sure that Lord
Melbourne advised her that delay was
dangerous. He said: s'You will be
much more comfortable; a woman can.
not stand alone" On October 18th
the queen sent a message to Albert
that she desired to see him in her
room. He thus describes the scene in
a letter to his grandmother: '"The
queen sent for me alone to
her room and declared to me
in a genuine outburst OF love and af-
lection that I had gained her whole
heart and would make her intensely
happy if I would make her the sacri.
flee Of sharing my life with her. The
joyous openness OF manner in which
she told me this quite enchanted me
and was carried away by IT. Nc
doubt.
Next month she summoned her pri
Wy council and informed them of her
intention to ally herself in marriage
with Prince Albert. She read her dec
laration, and felt" says she, 'sthat
my hands shook, but / did not make
one single mistake" When parliament
met in January, 1910, she repeated
her declaration to them with perfect
composure, and asked for grant 'oa
$3.50, 900 a year for the prince. Par
lament gave him $3.50, 900.
the marriage was a happy one from
the start to the end. Husband and
wife were wrapped up in each other
and in their children. For the first
year or two Prince Albert was not
present at the meetings between the
queen and her minister's; but after
wards he was always expected at the
council tables. But their happiest
times were when they were playing to
gether-both were accomplished mu
sicians; Or etching portraits OF their
children; or singing under the leader
ship of Lablache. Albert laid down
for himself two rules, in order to 81
lence scandal, which had been so rife
under previous reigns, and likewise tc
obviate jealousy on the part of his
wife-he would pay no visits and would
60 nowhere unattended by an equerry
This was his rule through life, and it
accomplished his object. No breath
OF scandal ever furnished his reputa
| ton.
twenty years ago the queen pub
lished a volume containing her diary
during her journey to Scotland, and
fifteen years later this was followed
by a second volume on the same sub
lect. coming down to 1882. The
books are interesting because they
constitute a forty years diary written
by a queen regnant. Tie thoughts
are trivial, the observations trite, the
style uncultured they reflect the
mind Of a commonplace, honest. kind.
~ woman, who might have tbeen as
much at home as the wife of "a retail
grocer as the queen Of England and
empress of India Thus she tells us
Il ate some oatmeal porridge fol
breakfast and found it very niee;;'' q
saw a woman in TIE river with hel
dress tucked up almost to her knees
washing potatoes Dundee is a very
/ Large place: the Situation al the towr